With the 2022 NFL season underway, I took a look at every player on every roster in the NFL to explore the question in the headline. I think most of us can guess which schools and conferences have the most players just by watching a Sunday Night Football intro, but my curiosity couldn’t resist finding out for myself.
I set a couple of rules for myself with this research. I only included players on 53-man rosters, as well as the Reserve/Injured, Reserve/Non-Football Injury, Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform, and Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner lists. Practice squad players were not included.
The rosters are finalized as of Sept. 12, 2022, just before the Week 1 Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.
I’ll display the top 25 schools with the most NFL players, and then sort them all out by conferences.
Surprise surprise. Alabama has the most with 63, but the margin between the Tide and the rest of college football is not nearly as wide as I would have thought. LSU has only six fewer and Ohio State has eight fewer. Georgia is the only other school with at least 40 players. Notre Dame, Michigan, Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida, Iowa, Clemson, and Washington have 30 or more.
Now, let’s sort it the schools out by conference. The percentages are out of 1,884 players in the NFL.
SEC – 405 (21.5%)
Alabama – 63
LSU – 57
Georgia – 47
Florida – 34
Auburn – 26
Texas A&M – 25
South Carolina – 24
Ole Miss – 23
Tennessee – 22
Kentucky – 19
Mississippi State – 19
Missouri – 19
Arkansas – 16
Vanderbilt – 11
BIG TEN – 308 (16.3%)
Ohio State – 55
Michigan – 38
Penn State – 37
Iowa – 34
Wisconsin – 29
Nebraska – 18
Illinois – 15
Michigan State – 15
Minnesota – 14
Maryland – 13
Rutgers – 13
Purdue – 12
Northwestern – 8
Indiana – 7
ACC – 224 (11.9%)
Clemson – 32
Miami (FL) – 23
Florida State – 21
Virginia Tech – 21
North Carolina – 18
NC State – 17
Pittsburgh – 17
Boston College – 16
Duke – 12
Wake Forest – 11
Virginia – 10
Georgia Tech – 9
Syracuse – 9
Louisville – 8
PAC-12 – 200 (10.6%)
Washington – 30
UCLA – 26
Stanford – 24
USC – 22
Oregon – 20
Utah – 17
California – 16
Arizona State – 13
Oregon State – 10
Colorado – 8
Washington State – 8
Arizona – 6
BIG 12 – 164 (8.7%)
Oklahoma – 37
Texas – 28
Oklahoma State – 18
TCU – 17
Baylor – 15
Texas Tech – 13
West Virginia – 12
Kansas State – 10
Iowa State – 9
Kansas – 5
AMERICAN – 105 (5.6%)
Cincinnati – 17
Houston – 16
Temple – 16
Memphis – 13
UCF – 13
SMU – 12
Tulane – 7
Tulsa – 4
East Carolina – 3
South Florida – 3
Navy – 1
MOUNTAIN WEST – 63 (3.3%)
Boise State – 12
San Diego State – 9
Utah State – 8
Wyoming – 8
Colorado State – 7
Fresno State – 6
Nevada – 5
San Jose State – 4
Hawaii – 2
New Mexico – 2
Air Force – 0
UNLV – 0
INDEPENDENTS – 62 (3.3%)
Notre Dame – 39
BYU – 11
UConn – 5
UMass – 4
Army – 2
Liberty – 1
New Mexico State – 0
CONFERENCE USA – 57 (3.0%)
Florida Atlantic – 9
Louisiana Tech – 7
Middle Tennessee State – 6
Western Kentucky – 6
Rice – 5
UAB – 5
UTEP – 5
UTSA – 5
Charlotte – 3
Florida International – 3
North Texas – 3
SUN BELT – 56 (3.0%)
Appalachian State – 8
Louisiana – 6
Old Dominion – 6
Southern Miss – 6
Georgia Southern – 5
South Alabama – 5
Arkansas State – 4
Coastal Carolina – 3
Georgia State – 3
James Madison – 3
Marshall – 3
Texas State – 2
Louisiana-Monroe – 1
Troy – 1
MAC – 46 (2.4%)
Western Michigan – 11
Toledo – 9
Central Michigan – 7
Buffalo – 5
Eastern Michigan – 3
Miami (OH) – 3
Northern Illinois – 3
Bowling Green – 2
Ohio – 2
Ball State – 1
Akron – 0
Kent State – 0
Other Notes:
– 1,301 of the 1,884 (69.1%) players in the NFL are from Power Five schools.
– 327 of the 1,884 (17.4%) players are from Group of Five schools.
– 1,690 of the 1,884 (89.7%) players are from FBS schools.
– 134 of the 1,884 (7.1%) players are from FCS schools.
– 48 of the 1,884 (2.5%) players are from Division II schools.
– 5 of the 1,884 (0.3%) players are from Division III schools.
– 4 players are from U Sports, 1 is from the BAFA National Leagues, 1 is from the International Player Pathway Program, and 1 is from VCU, who doesn’t have a football program.
About the author
I am an Oregon Ducks fan who graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism. At the UO, I did on-site reporting with Duck TV Sports and KWVA Sports 88.1 FM and have covered events such as the 2020 Pac-12 Football Championship Game and the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament. I previously wrote for Ducks Digest on the Sports Illustrated network.
